In April, we had stud​ied​ the book “The Wizard of Oz” in our group. Many members participated and we had a good discussion. In May, we will continue to have ​further study on the two main characters of “The Wizard of Oz”: “The wicked from the West” and “Tin Woodman”​. They ​were chosen for understanding the archetypal theme on the Orphan and stepping into the path of individuation.

“Tin Woodman” — No heart…All hallow’ This sparks Tin Woodman, a character from a story ‘The Wizard of Oz’, to join Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road and start his self-discovering journey. In the story, Tin Woodman always wants to restore his lost-heart as he thinks he cannot love and to be loved without a heart. Although he has no physical heart, he is the most caring and compassionate character. In this study group, we will study the transformational journey of Tin Woodman and explore the symbolic meaning he carried.

“The Wicked from the West” – by the new version written by Gregory Maguire, the wicked was offered a new name called Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. She is a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil. Indeed, she wasn’t so wicked after all. She was just an orphan and alone for exploring what were the good and bad within herself.

If you do not have the book “Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, you can get it through the link below:

This book study will focus on the archetypal theme of hero’s journey using the book “The Wisdom of Oz” by Dr. Morena. Current local sandplay therapy case will be used as illustration. Dr. Morena is a sandplay therapist and the great grand-daughter of L. Frank Baum, the writer of the famous book “The Wizard of Oz”. In her book, Dr. Morena explored the power of fairy tale and imagery from Oz in order to stimulate the imagination and to activate emotional healing. She also demonstrated how the main character Dorothy’s experiences in Oz resembles the struggles inherent in Carl Jung’s individuation process.

This is to inform you of the Seventh Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Hong Kong Sandplay Therapy Association to be held on 24 March 2018 at 7:00pm. It will be followed by a Study Group. The meeting will be held at the Season Commercial Building, 5/F, 3 Humphreys Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Our seventh AGM will be held on March 24, 2018. We are honored to have invited Dr. Alexander Esterhuyzen to give a talk on Dreams and Sandplay Therapy after the AGM meeting.

Jung states in Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, “…our dreams are like windows that allow us to look in, or to listen in to that psychological process which is continually going on in our unconscious” (Jung 1934, p. 236). The unconscious expresses itself through dreams and sandplay images in sandplay processes which are not entirely under conscious control, and they both activate inner resources as well as facilitating a “dialogue” with the unconscious. This is why both dreams and sandplay process are important in working with clients in our clinical practice.

This study group is only opened to members of Hong Kong Sandplay Therapy Association. Reply to this email if you plan to join this group on or before 17 March, 2018. As seats are limited, please reply early.

Author of this journal article stated that anger sometimes becomes significant emotion in sandplay therapy, and the importance of the therapists as “wounded healers” in confronting clients’ anger and negative emotions. The author explores this subject through clinical study based on analytical psychology, Bushido and Buddhism with two clinical cases involving difficulty in expressing negative angry emotion. I will present clincal case using sandplay to facilitate our learning on this subject.

A dark, ugly, scary winged dragon-like beastly figure, crouching at a corner of the shelf peering down as if waiting for its next prey… this was Jennifer’s experience during her first sandplay personal process session. Jennifer is going to share her quest of this demon looking figure which she didn’t even recognize as a symbol of protection from the very beginning. Modern sculptor have shaped gargoyles into contemporary characters such as Darth Vader. Hiding in this shadowy figure must bore some of our projections and we invite you to join us to explore this intriguing symbol.

HKSTA will offer a training course in sandplay therapy for beginners from Feburary to April 2018. This course will provide the practical considerations and guidelines for mental health professionals who are at the beginning stage in using sandplay therapy with clients and cases illustration will be used. We will be answering the five Ws questions such as “What are main considerations in displaying sandplay miniatures?”, “Where can you find figurines and sand trays in shops and online?” and “Who will benefit most from sandplay therapy?”